TAG Cannon

TAG Cannon
Type	Rockets
Faction	NSDF / CCA / CRA
Scrap cost	2 for NSDF, 1 for CCA
Internal name	gtaggun
Characteristics
Ammo usage	10 / projectile 100 / salvo
Damage	1 Impact on tracer hit 90 Ballistic / projectile 50 Concussive within 5 meters / projectile
Rate of fire	1 tracer / sec 10-shot salvo at 0.2 s (5 shots / sec)
Projectile speed	100 m/s for tracer 50 m/s for missiles
Maximum range	200 m

The Automated Targeting Gun or TAG Cannon is a two-stage rocket weapon found as standard-issue on Stoli light tanks. In the first stage, it launches an unguided tracer round that costs no ammunition, but also does almost no damage whatsoever. If the tracer hits something other than terrain, 1 second later the weapon unleashes a rapid-fire salvo of 10 rockets that home in on the tracer. Each rocket only has enough fuel for 4 seconds of pursuit but if all ten hit the target, the combined damage is equivalent to a direct hit from a Hornet with 11% less ammo used and slightly less risk of friendly fire. In terms of ammo efficiency, the TAG Cannon is the second best among all rocket weapons, bested only by the Rocket Bomb.

It's worth noting that while the tracer requires line of sight to hit the target, the rockets do not. This makes the TAG Cannon a highly potent standoff weapon in hilly terrain when combined with jump thrusters: jump high enough to peek over the top of a hill, tag the target while in the air, then immediately point the reticle upwards. This lobs the entire salvo over the hill, effectively turning the TAG Cannon into a homing mortar while simultaneously minimizing exposure to return fire before the next salvo can be loaded. Turrets are especially vulnerable to this tactic.

Once the target is acquired, the salvo can not be cancelled without running out of ammo or destroying the firing vehicle, so make sure no friendly units will stray into your line of fire before the last round is away. If the target dies before the entire salvo has hit, the remaining rockets will still track and hit the tumbling wreck. Due to its method of operation, no countermeasures exist against TAG Cannon rockets that are locked on to a target, short of diving behind terrain or manually outmaneuvering the incoming rockets until they run out of fuel.

Trivia

Even though the TAG Cannon is a rocket weapon and the ones launched by the Armory will only fit into rocket hardpoints, the NSDF Field Guide refers to it as a cannon and the Stoli's default loadout has a TAG Cannon in the vehicle's cannon hardpoint rather than the rocket hardpoint. This seems to suggest that the TAG Cannon's type was changed at one point late in the game's development.